What you can do, or dream you can, begin it:

Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.

Only engage and the mind grows heated;

Begin and then the work will be completed.

(Goethe)

There are 13 lunar cycles to a calendar year of 12 months, 13 opportunities for new beginnings.

The New Phase of the Moon initiates the waxing half of the lunar cycle. Waxing means growing in light, representing formative processes. Dane Rudyhar writes that the waxing time represents the “power of instinct”. Thus, during the two-week waxing period we need to express our spontaneity and instinctive behaviors. Beginning is paramount; outcome is incidental.

At the New Moon the sky is dark. The exact time of it by direct observation is impossible. Metaphysically, the dark represents the unconscious mind, individually and collectively. It is a reflective time, a time to be open and receive clues from the Universe.

The phase begins with a gradual emergence that feels like unfinished business or something pressing to do, but,  you’re not sure what it is, it’s “dark” out. If we neglected to do our mental/emotional/spiritual housecleaning during the previous phase/cycle, it requires effort to shake off the lethargy and the hovering ghosts.

The new phase also represents the passage from nothingness to the more active part of the cycle. It is the stillness behind the motion, the state of suspension before the birth, steeped with hope, possibilities,  and significant beginnings.

It’s an interesting practice to investigate the space between endings and beginnings.  May find that both happen at the same time, and time becomes a wheel.

During these days/months we need to express energy instinctively. Becoming attuned to ourselves and less focused on the external environment, unless you practice spiritual feng shui in your home. This period may also be experienced as a state of confusion, being completely in the dark about the “why” of our actions. Spontaneity and impulsive actions are okay to practice now. Like Nike said, Just Do It.

When the sun and the moon come together at the New Moon, our sense of purpose and our unconscious responses become one and the same, blending their energy. Yin and Yang are one, briefly.

It is a time to trust our unconscious and let it be our guide. The Universe will open the door now. Watch, listen, pay attention to what you attract.

If you are astrologically literate and familiar with your natal chart take notice of where the new moon falls. What house is it in and does it aspect any of your planets?

It seems logical to begin things during the time of the new moon. After all it does represent beginnings! However, because the unconscious element is so prevalent at this time take heed. The results you get from starting projects during a new moon may not always be the results you plan for. The unconscious is in control during this time. And, sometimes, most times, our unconscious is a mystery.

I recommend you use this phase to practice being in the moment, aware of sensations in the body, thoughts, emotions, and breath. Give your self some moments of long stillness and then give yourself permission to be (safely, responsibly) impulsive. Let it be okay to not have a goal, or make a new one. Watch what comes to you. Journal.

Later, after a few cycles have completed you can look back and see the significance of the events that began at this time.

Coming:  Yoga Practices for the New Moon

The difference between them is largely a question of measurement and how and where to begin measuring. Volumes have been written and it’s not necessary for our purposes here to go into it in any detail.

The tropical zodiac is mostly used by western astrologers and looks at the sky with reference to the solstice and equinox points. Then they divide the sky up into twelve 30-degree segments and there you have it.

The sidereal zodiac is primarily used by vedic astrologers and is more closely related to the actual placement of the stars in their constellations.

The actual difference between these two zodiacs is approximately 23 degrees depending on which astronomer or astrologer you consult.

Although I do not consider myself either a western or an eastern astrologer, I can’t help but think that the Siderealists are more connected to ‘reality’ since they are looking at the sky as it is, rather than observing it as a mathematical construct. That said, the symbolism of the outer planets which are ignored by the jyotishi’s, is vitally important during these changing paradigms.

Recently there has been some discussion about the 13th zodiac sign and the shifting dates of each of the other 12 signs. This seemingly contradictory information has been discussed for many, many decades and does not in anyway diminish the validity of astrological analysis.

Astrology works.

Many excellent astrologers have written extensively about Saturn and by all means do your own research.

Saturn’s cycle around the sun takes approximately 28 years give or take a few months. If you divide 28 by 4 you get the infamous Seven-Year Cycle that psychologists and economists have always cautioned us about. And, it’s true. Every 7 years Saturn reaches a particular place in it’s orbit which creates a particular tension in either our relationships, our career, our health, or our family. Every 7 years, a big decision needs to be made.

The study of the Saturn cycle in more detail provides us with a lot more detail about that 7th year.

Saturn is represented within the Mulabandha, the first chakra. Saturn is also represented by our bones and joints, particularly the hips and knees. It makes sense to me that the lord of the clock has rulership over the parts of our body that ‘move us forward’ …or not. Feeling stuck is a common symptom of saturn’s effects.

Every 28th year we get to reset the clock. Saturn has moved thru a complete cycle and returned to where it was at the time of your birth.

As we age, we get to add whatever wisdom we have gained to the similar circumstances coming around today. Yoga therapy is helpful here.

…….to be continued

Biologists see time passing as a link between the rhythm of internal processes to the regular rhythms of the outside world such as mating seasons, and the cycle of growth/death of most vegetation. Corporate Executives and politicians see time as something to control as Golda Meir exclaimed, “I must govern the clock, not be governed by it. Everyone has their own way to relate to time.

Astrology views time as a cyclical experience rather than the linear view most others have.

The effects of time on the body has been well documented. Aging is easy to see. When we look closely, minute daily changes steadily progress to  larger, physical changes. Small lines become deep wrinkles. Slight aches become crippling joints. Body postures once limber and upright, become hunched, rounded, and appear to carry tremendous weight on the back. All of this becomes visible over the course of time.

Although things like poor diet, lack of exercise, substance abuse, and ignorance can contribute to this apparent deterioration, time also plays a part. Our awareness of time passing becomes translated into the body. If we believe that we are supposed to age , deteriorate, and get sick as we get older, then that is exactly what will happen. In Japan, many insurance companies are paying out large sums of money to the widows of overworked business men. They call it hurry sickness or kashori and it shows up as sudden death in the workplace. Our perception of not enough time certainly adds to this modern day illness. And that’s exactly the point. It’s our perception of time that holds the key to releasing the stress we feel. Sometimes time goes very slowly, as if one minute or even a few seconds feels like years. Have you ever had a car accident? Perhaps spun out on the road in bad weather? The consciousness slows down and you can sometimes witness the loss of control of the car as if it were happening in slow motion. Other times, time passes very quickly. Vacations, weddings, happy occasions tend to ‘speed’ up time so that 1 week can fly by as if it were one hour.

The key to time management is to learn to recognize cycles, phases, and patterns rather than months, days and hours. To develop the ability to flow with the passing time rather than to fight the clock. There is a certain rhythm in the world that supercedes any manmade time telling device and this rhythm remains constant, stable, and secure and is not subject to the whims of man who we know makes mistakes.

It helps to understand a little history of where all these time telling devices began and why. In Agricultural eras time was measured by a simple stick in the ground telling us how much daylight was left. That was all they really needed to know. However, with the dawn of the Industrial Era and particularly the railroad and the assembly line, a more precise measurement of time was needed. The assembly line couldn’t start until everyone was assembled together. And departure/arrival times for the railroad also became dependent on people coming to the station on time. These ‘technological’ advances encouraged people to ignore what their own bodies, intuition and common sense told them. Mindless obedience replaced common sense and the 24 hour workday was birthed. Productivity, speed, mechanization, were valued above flexability, innovation, and creativity.

Today, many spiritual teachers are encouraging us to become more fully aware of the present moment, the now. Environmentalists are reminding us of the necessity of maintaining mother nature’s ecological balance. But the higher up we live in our high rises, and the more concrete and asphalt we spread over the soil, the more removed we become from the natural world and the inherent rhythms that exist still within our world. These natural rhythms do not go away just because we’ve covered them up with man made forms. They continue to exist just as the sun continues to rise and set and the planets continue to revolve around the sun. This separation between the man-made and the natural world also contributes to our stress and dysfunction.

Dane Rudyhar states that it is the ‘conscious awareness of time which separates man from all other living creatures”. And, astrology, rightly understood, “ can restore man’s sense of meaning through the study of cycles. When looked at this way, time becomes a never ending series of cycles comprised of repeating phases. THe pattern of the unfoldment repeats but the contents and the events are never repeated, thereby allowing for evolution and growth.

When speaking about astrology, author, poet Robert Bly says “astrology shows us how we are fractured and how we are whole.” That being said, how much power do we really have to change things, if the timing on our various life cycles is supposedly set at birth?

Perhaps it’s not so much about changing things. Perhaps as it is to become more

Different people will view time differently depending on their orientation to life. Scientists tell time by microseconds. Artists see the passing of light on a subject. Salespeople are taught to manage their time to make every possible hour productive. This attitude is very common throughout our whole culture. Make every moment productive. Rarely are we encouraged to rest, to reflect, to take time to receive/

Yoga teaches us these things….at least in some of the traditions. After postures we are led into savasana to experience deep relaxation. If you are following one of the more gentler, compassionate yoga traditions you might have the opportunity to rest after each posture to receive the gifts and notice the body’s response to the asana. The guru’s of old understood the need for reflection and passive attention to what we do. This art is also lost in our contemporary culture. Today, we simply keep pushing to do more, and more in less, and less time.

Astrology and the science and psychology of cycles can be a key ingredient here to smoothing out our awareness and experience of time. Let’s reflect a little on the history of astrology to understand this better.

In man’s early history the only clock he had were the sun and the moon. There was day and there was night. Day began with the rising of the sun over the horizon. Man watched the sun rise at a different place each day, climb up into the sky, peak, and then seemingly fall back to the horizon and disappear. The sky then grew increasingly dark until the stars appeared. Man then noticed that some stars stayed fixed in the sky whilst others seemed to move across that wide expanse against that fixed backdrop.

The moons appearance looked quite different. It could appear day or night! And over the course of time *how much exactly(…….it’s shape and form changed….daily. And, sometimes it didn’t appear at all! After centuries of tracking the course of the moon along with the sun man was able to create a calendar of sorts. He found that he could systematically predict with a high degree of certainty, where and when the moon and sun would appear and how long it took for each of them to move through one cycle before they returned to the same place. Witness the birth of a month, moon cycle, and the year, a solar cycle. Thousands of years later these observations became manifested as what we now know as the clock and the calendar. However, some time along the way, man decided that he could improve on this natural rhythm of the cosmos and he began to make his own adjustment to the passing of time. In an attempt to smooth out some apparent incongruities man decided that their should be 12 months to a year…even though there are 13 lunar cylcles that occur. Man also decided that every four years we should adjust the calendar to 364 days instead of +++++ . And most recently man has decided that we should alter the clock by an hour, to take better advantage of daylight hours…..EDT.

So, let’s think about this for a minute. For thousands of years man lived within the framework of natural, divine, cosmic rhythms. His belief system worshipped these moving bodies in the sky and the world was united in this simple way of being. There was always enough time for work, play, rest, and worship. Everything got done. The planting, the harvest, the hunting and plenty of time for relaxation and reflection.

That is certainly not the case today. Qutie the opposite in fact. And, one of the reasons just might be our separation from the natural rhythms of the cosmos, in favor of our attachment and over reliance on the manmade clocks and calendars, which we can now see are not accurate! wrong. We are living today according to an artificial time keeping method. And furthermore our dependence on these man made tools has blurred our thinking, increased the stressors in our lives, created disharmony with nature, and separated us from our deeper selves.

What to do?

Well, for starters it is important to return to some method of time management that can bring us back to alignment with the natural rhythms. After all, we are organic creatures who feel the effects of the environment just like all beings. Animals, minerals, and plants don’t require watches and yet the flowers bloom on time, and the fish spawn on time, and the mountains continue to ignore time. Why can’t we?

Learning to tell time by cycles and phases is the first step and we already know how to do this. It’s in our limbic _ brain.

Let’s begin with the moon. Women understand this cycle on a very intimate level. The menstruation cycle and the lunar cycle are coincidentally the same length. Duh………….

That was until we started messing around with birth control pills and such.

For Yoga Teachers:

Learning to tell time by cycles can help yoga teachers in many different ways.

Create classes which support the current phase bringing more people into alignment with these natural rhythms.

To schedule their work time, personal time, and practice time in alignment with the cosmos.

For anything at all that needs to be scheduled

To reduce the stress of creating a business.

Reduce Stress….slow down the aging process, create balance , be more productive in less time, find the other blurbs for the benefits……

Time has effects on the body and yoga can do a lot to minimize these effects. However, if we are still attached to our watches, clocks, and calendars it’s only a matter of time before we are out of sync again. For more information see Jose Arguelles…….change the calendars. However, until that happens all we can do is to work with the cycles as best we can and to try to align ourselves with nature as best we can.

At any given time there are two cycles going on at the same time. The internal or personal experience of time and the external, or worldly experience of time. Some times these two cycles feel aligned. Othertimes we are again out of sync., and that’s when we feel particularly challenged. The good news is that these times are entirely predictable and remain consistent every year so we can plan ahead to minimize the stress that inevitably occurs when we are out of alingnmetnh.

We’ve all had the experience of being gestated in a womb.  At least I hope so, still.  Things are changing so fast now, so much more is possible with the advances (?) of science.  Things just don’t stay the same, that’s the impermanent nature of things.

The environment of the womb is not isolated or separate from the larger world, and that’s because the mother is subject to external circumstances.  Her emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and beliefs are transmitted loud and clear into the fetus.  The waters of the womb passes energetic,  non-verbal information into the fetus that affects not just the physical growth, but the mental and emotional growth as well.  content, everything that is happening outside of the womb, into the womb.

Astrology provides a unique insight into these pre-natal conditions and can give you some important information that might have gone un-realized for this particular time period. (There are at least 4 eclipses a year coming in pairs of solar eclipse & lunar eclipse each time sun/moon/earth  line up.  People have been observing this astronomical event for all time.)

The eclipse that occurred  just prior to your birth is a significant place in the natal chart,  particularly if you are pregnant, have had children, or want to.  It describes the cosmic weather that was and still is  in effect during your own gestation.

If you are  fearless and  determined to become more self-aware regardless of where it takes you than you might want to arrange for a consultation with a professional to talk about your personal pre-natal experiences because whether you understand astrology or not the conditions (external & internal) that were present during the time of this pre-natal eclipse have marked you just as significantly as your personal DNA.   The more we can understand our own Birth Story/History the more we are able to understand and create optimal conditions for the children we carry in our own wombs.  Yes?

Yoga teaches us that the time is (always) NOW.   One of my teachers impressed upon me that what we feel, we heal and what better time to heal oneself?  We all want what’s best for our children.  Becoming a parent, a mother most especially is such a unique experience that is no longer guaranteed to happen according to nature’s rules.  The whole process has changed with things like in-vitro, genetic manipulation, knowing (and choosing) gender, and the incredible invasion of the medical establishment into a life-cycle experience that has always been handled by women for women.

to be continued…………………….

Female, 49 yrs. 5’5″, 180, thining dyed hair, round. Although I do not have a birth-chart to refer to, the fact that she is 49 is enough to remind me which cycles usually dominate our life experiences during the years around 50.

Chiron’s cycle is approximately 50 years. The wounded healer, heals.

She arrived before me for our session and was eager and willing to fill out intake forms.

We spoke about the program and this session in particular. We agreed to follow the yamas & niyamas for our work together.  We did this by practicing co-listening techniques in order to develop a clear channel for communication.

She describes herself as exhausted, and can feel some obstruction in the heart & throat area. She recently suffered from pneumonia and continues to be concerned about her health. She felt it was a wake-up call of some sort and wanted to pay closer attention.

She is frustrated with her current career. Although she loves being a teacher, she feels stuck in her current position. It feels like a long, hard struggle and she’s out of energy.

We discussed different yoga practices that can be of benefit to her if she chooses to commit to a ‘practice’ at all.

For the experiential part of our 1st session we spent time doing a seated body scan thru the kosha’s. Periodically, I would ask her to write/draw/record her awarenesses on some paper.

By the time we finished with the kosha’s she had experienced quite an ‘energetic’ shift inside and was quite amazed at what she had discovered. Most notable was that the entire left side of her body was numb when compared to the right. The imbalance was enlightening in and of itself to her in that moment.

We completed our session with savasana, pranayama and meditation.

During meditation, we explored Anjali Mudra in some detail paying attention to the sensations in each fingertip, it’s proximity to the heart chakra, its guiding the energy upward, etc.

I guided her back to the previously blocked throat area and encouraged her to chant om for a short while, and I noticed that each om sounded stronger than the one before it.

She felt like there was more work to be done, and seemed quite at peace and possibly enthusiastic about what might come next.

She left feeling well-balanced, energetic, and relaxed.

I could have taken an entirely different tactic with this women, and spent our time together working more on asana’s and that would have been okay, too. However, in my mind, asana’s and Chiron just don’t go together very well unless you have a committed client who will be returning often. At this point in time she was unable to commit to more than one session at a time. (I usually encourage everyone to commit to 6 sessions, however that can be a financial/economic burden in 2009.) Chiron and Neptune are closely aligned these days, so for those clients around 49 yrs of age, their particular crisis in this moment requires a spiritual (neptune), healing (chiron) flavor to it. Much of what happens during guided healing/therapy sessions happens on the subtle & causal layers of the body. To some it’s very, very, “woo-woo”. To others, it’s safe, non-invasive, and easy to participate.

One thing that I find most interesting about natal-chart astrology is that you can’t tell by looking at a chart the level of consciousness of the individual. Jeffrey Green in his wonderful book on Pluto- The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul writes about four states of evolutionary conditioning that are not revealed by the chart.

The first state is what he describes as the “dimly evolved” state and encompasses about 3% of the population. It is quite doubtful that we as yoga therapists will come in contact with these individuals as many of them are severly mentally deficient.

The second state he calls the herd state and about 75% of the population falls into this category. He describes these individuals as those who comply with the social/cultural norms of the day. They rarely question their beliefs and are happy to follow mainstream thinking and behavioral patterns.

The third state which holds about 20% of our population ( and growing by my observation) he labels the individuated state. These people question the beliefs and norms of society and look to develop their individuality. Many of them are drawn to yoga and the other spiritual practices which teach from the inside out. Self-discovery is their chosen methodology for learning.

The fourth state of about 3% of human beings is the spiritual state where one lives from a universal state of consciousness. These individuals have moved beyond the individualized state and and attempt to align themselves with the timeless, universal state of being. Jesus, Buddah, Mohammed are the primary examples of what is possible in this state.

In order to support our clients/students it is important to recognize which evolutionary state they are operating from and work from there. Those in the herd state will require patient understanding and acceptance before they can move to the third, individualized state. When working with others it is always important to meet them where they are before you attempt to move them. Yoga & yoga therapy supports experiential learning so rather than using dialogue to explain the different states it is much more effective to design experiences that will help them discover for themselves a more enlightened way of being.

Do you like to do jig-saw puzzles? There a lot of high’s and low’s  show up with that particular past-time. The Missing Piece, Turning the Corner, Completing the Frame, ……….and then the Moment of Completion! Or, maybe, The Agony of Despair because completion is impossible.

Life is like that. Every day a new piece, a new set of colors, shapes, and sizes to breathe with. Perspective is the key and not until we have done some serious self-inquiry can we hope to regain balance and harmony in our life.

There are times during the course of a month/year/life that are really optimum for self-inquiry practices.

Go to this post on one of my other blogs for more on self-inquiry.

Many of the eastern philosophies speak of the light that resides within. God is to be found on the inside, deep within oneself. Our disconnection from that source of light within may indeed be part of the problem that permeates society today. Many times when I tell my clients and students to use this balsamic time for meditation, contemplation, soul-searching or prayer they look at me like I’m crazy. “I don’t have time for that” is a common response. There’s “too much to do, too much work, too many responsibilities”.

“But, I wish I could”, is a communal sad song. Well, this is the time to take the time for inward-oriented activities. And, the amazing, magical result of pursuing this inward journey at this particular time is the reduction of stress and the feeling & experience of having more time throughout the rest of the cycle.

The Balsamic Phase of the Moon is when our system is crying for psychic detoxification. It’s the perfect time to pause and reflect on all events and activities of the recent past. A ‘letting go’ time, when we acknowledge ourselves for doing the best we could. Or, if we weren’t able to do our best, we acknowledge ourselves for trying and then let it go.

What does it mean to let go of something? One hears this expression a lot these days. On one level I think it means to not worry or be concerned with outcome. Replace the energy spent on mental/emotional anguish and instead practice cultivating the energy of faith, trust and stillness. The Bhagava Gita gives very explicit instructions for how to do this and the balsamic phase is the time to practice more intently.

During the balsamic period the veil between the conscious and the unconscious is thin. Therefore, it is also a good time to pay more attention to our dreams. Dreams come from the Vijananamaya Kosha, one of our subtle bodies according to Yogic Philosophy. Our higher mind usually has some very important information and dreams are a way of communicating with ourselves. Sometimes they may even take on a prophetic tone. Our need to daydream, fantasize or simply escape our everyday realities is a natural tendency that requires attention just like any other health routine me might employ. We all need time to be alone and connect with ourselves. Long walks or drives, frequent naps, listening to music, connecting with nature, journaling, painting, dancing, practicing yoga, tai chi, chi gong, reading, or just sitting staring out a window are all befitting activities for these days.

In psychological terms this lunar phase is when we are more connected to the collective unconscious. This is a term used most frequently within the Jungian tradition of psychology. Freudians might refer to it as the unconscious or supra-conscious mind. People have created different words for the same concepts for eons. The point is that there is a part of our mind that works from a different operating system than the rest of our mind. And this ‘hidden file’ is very busy connecting to the ethereal WWW all the time.

So, perhaps the most important thing to really understand is that if you do not honor this time, if you continue your daily life and your routine without including “downtime’, then you will not feel energized and refreshed when the next cycle begins. At first the effects of this may not be apparent. However, over time, if you continue to ignore your inner world and focus only on the external the stresses will accumulate and can create obstacles, dis-ease, and crisis in your life.

Without adequate time for pause and reflection, the body/mind/spirit will rebel and hopefully send you some clear signals that things are out of balance. When that happens our lives begin to spin seemingly out of control. We find ourselves in dysfunction, dis-ease, and disarray. And as a result something may happen by which we are then forced (by some external factor?) to give up our routine. Either we land in a hospital, or we are down-sized, laid-off or fired. Either way, we are now forced to use our time to reflect because now we have no other choice. Fate or Free Will……..make your choice.

It’s so much easier to voluntarily step back from our routines then to have them forcibly removed from us. This is the gift of the Balsamic Phase of the Moon. Two days out of every 28 day cycle can go really far in preventing & healing accumulated stress.

©Time & Space Consulting. All rights reserved. This article is an excerpt of my book in progress.